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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Malaria case in Dubai

Dubai: Several cases of malaria have been reported in International City (IC) in Dubai, doctors said. Doctor treating 2-3 cases every week as mosquitoes thrive in dirty water bodies .

General practitioner Dr Fouziya Ayyub, who works in IC, said dozens of residents could be infected by mosquitoes thriving in dirty water bodies in the residential cluster. "The stagnant waters are mosquito-breeding grounds. People get bitten and fall sick. When I test them, it turns out to be malaria," said Dr Fouziya.

"As far as I know, there were zero malaria cases here. But now I see about two or three cases per week."
She added some cases appear to be "local transmissions" rather than "imported" ones.
The UAE was declared malaria-free by the World Health Organisation in 2007, but there have been incidents of people getting infected abroad and entering the country.
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) told XPRESS: "Like any other capital cities where malaria transmission is eradicated, we do have cases of imported malaria in the country... People can get the infections and return to UAE. This is what we call imported malaria." It added: "All cases reported to DHA in 2011 are cases of imported malaria; all the cases are expatriates..."
However, Dr Fouziya said some patients had told her they had not travelled outside the UAE "for a long time". If her suspicions are true, this would be a case of local malaria transmission, she added.